After some fish are caught, it is customary to remove their scales prior to marketing, freezing or otherwise processing the fish. The scaling operation is often carried out using a motorized rotary scaling tool having a generally cylindrical scaling head or blade rotatably mounted on its axis to a handle. The head is rotated at a relative low speed, e.g., less than 1500 rpm, by an appropriate electric motor.
In use, a worker holding the tool by its handle strokes the head along the fish such that the head is rotating against the grain of the fish. The rotating head engages the scales and strips them from the flesh of the fish. Some prior scaling tools are provided with a rigid protective cover which extends over the scaling head to shield the worker's fingers from the head and to prevent the removed fish scales from flying up into the worker's face.
Prior fish scaling tools are disadvantaged, however, in that the impacts of the scaling head against the fish during the scale removal process tend to soften the flesh of the fish which is undesirable from a marketing standpoint. Also, if even a small hole is made in the fish during scale removal, the prior tools tend to grab and rip out the flesh of the fish through that hole thereby reducing the fish in value or even making it unmarketable.
The above problems with the prior scaling tools stem primarily from the designs of their scaling heads. One common type of head comprises a cylinder having closely spaced raised bosses distributed around its circumference. When the fish is engaged by the rotating head, the bosses, constituting localized pressure points, smash into the fish and disrupt and soften the fish flesh. Also, the leading edges of the bosses, while removing the scales, also tend to tear into the underlying fish flesh. Still further, scales tend to fill the spaces between the bosses, reducing the scaling efficiency of the tool.
Another type of prior scaling head of which we are aware comprises a cylindrical stack of metal washers. The washers are slit radially and sectors of the washers are twisted so that the head resembles a stack of miniature propeller blades. When this type of tool is stroked along the fish, the edges of those blades tend to cut and otherwise damage the fish flesh in the process of removing the scales from the fish.
Damage to the fish may also occur due to the protective shields or covers that overlie the heads on prior scaling tools. This is because when the worker moves the tool along the fish, the leading edge of the shield is usually pressed against the fish along with the head. This localized pressure on the fish contributes to softening of the fish flesh.
The head shield also interferes with the proper operation of the scaler because the removed scales tend to accumulate in the space between the head and the shield. In practice, it is difficult to dislodge those scales without removing the shield from the head. In addition, while the shield protects the worker's face from flying scales, it can be a cause of injury to the worker's fingers. This is because as the worker manipulates the tool over the fish, he may inadvertently position one or more fingers in the space between the rigid shield and the spinning head such that the fingers are actually wedged against and cut by the rotating head.
Prior scaling tools are also disadvantaged in that their scaling heads have a relatively short working life, one reason being their fixed polarities. In other words, in use, they must be rotated in a selected direction against the fish. The resultant constant engagements of the leading edges of the head against the relatively abrasive fish scales can dull those edges so that the head no longer strips scales from the fish in an efficient and effective manner. When this occurs, the heads are usually thrown away because it is impractical, if not impossible, to resharpen those edges.
The prior scaling tools have other limitations which impair the ability of the worker using those tools to scale fish in the most expeditious and economical manner. For example, some tools are relatively heavy and thus contribute to operator fatigue; some tools are unwieldy. Some tools have heads which only work effectively on fish of a certain type or within a certain size range.
It would be desirable, therefore, if there existed a fish scaling tool that is lightweight and easy to use and which removes the scales from most fish efficiently without damaging the fish.